Darks roads
by Dalamis
Summary: Welcome a story about the Avatar's role as a whole. It's an highly hypothetical universe Where the Avatar chose a very dark road to awaken the World, and humankind. Where the past will be reveal, the present erase and the futrure reborn. AU.
1. Prologue

**Prologue **

War. It's all men knew. It's all men did. But in times of chaos and fear, one rose to undo all of Mankind madness. As history repeated itself, men called upon their Avatar to save them. So salvage them. To guide them. And as always, the Avatar answered the Call. But the solution she brought to them was far from wthat they would have thought.

She was an Avatar like no other and she kept peace in the most unconventionnal way. While all others Avatars worked their way to knowledge and wiseness, she thought otherwise. The way to peace and balance wasn't in humankind, wasn't in mainting order amongs her fellow citizens of the world.

And tuss, she fought a war like no other.

She was about to bring a new era.

**To bring a new Era of Peace, one must erase the past, destroy the present and set the course to a better future.**

It was nightfall, the air was chill. The moon was the only light in the dark sky. They had to face the facts, they were cornered anda platoon approahced their position.

''Lady Kana, what should we do'' the leutenant said. His voice was nervous. He obviously didn't liked how it was going on.

''Let them come, I'll talk to their so-called leader'' said the Lady.

Her troop followed the order, even though they did not agree. Staying there, circled by them wasn't how they anticipated things. Still, their Leader, Lady Kana was charmismatic and strong. She knew what she was doing.

The ennemy came close enough to be heard. And to be talked to.

''I had hope to see the face of the person who is about to kill all my men, but it seems cowardice runs deep in your veins'' said the Lady.

_Arrogant_ thought her Second in command. Is that how she intend on get out of this alive. Maybe she is crazy.

''Reveale yourself. Show your face. Look at me when you kill me''

She was truely inspiring for her group. They had followed her into this vain quest, because they believed in her. They believed in what she was bringing back to Realm.

''Ren's Temple is forbiden. It has been since the beginnings of Time'' said a man.

He lit his fist in fire, and showed his face face , so Lady Han could see is features. He was a middle aged man. He had a strong jam line and his hair were dark as the night. He didn't wear any kind of armor and didn't have weapons. The fighters with him were benders of all Nations. They wore dark cloths. And their face was hidden by a hood and a kind of scarf. Only their eyes reflected their leader fire.

''So you do have a face.''

''Even if you enter, the Temple will never reveal its secrets.''

''I inted not to brake its secret for my own purposes, but to force it back to the World.''

''Humanity is not ready for it yet, you would create an era of darkness with no light to save it. We are the Guards oh the Order of the Sages and we will protect its secrets with our live. No one enters the Temple of Ren.''

''There is no such things as forgotten knowledges in the world I deeds to forge.''

And whitout a surprise she started the fight. It was obvious, her men were greater warriors. They were more accurate. They were skilled, too much for the Guard of the Temple of Ren. And soon, even if they were cornered, agony broke the silence of the night. They were falling one after the other. They may not be bender, but they sure knew how to fight. Fits, kicks. The fight was uneven. While her men dealt with the Guards, Lady Kana marched toward her goal. She had worked so hard to unravel to mysteries of Ren's Temple. She had heard rumors of what was sealed in it. And she had made sure she wasn't mistaken.

When all the Guards had been knock out or killed, her Lieutenant went by her side.

''What now Lady Kana. What happens now?''

''It is time to bring back something long forgotten. Men will no longer fight each others like animals. I will restore Order and Balance as did my past lives. Throught pain, men will learn the truth. Freedom is earn, not taken. ''

And so Lady Kana passed the gates of Ren's Temple.


	2. Road to the Avatars

_I based the chapter on Bumi's advice for Aang. About Neutral Jin._

_If there is a Light and Dark Spirit, where is the neutral Spirit? And what is his rôle._

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><p><strong>.<strong>

**1. The intricate Balance**

**.**

_First, there was the Three Pillars : Raava, Vaatu and Reen._

_Then came Spirits and finally, Humans._

_Altogether they formed the World._

_._

Spirits feared the Humans. They knew deap inside, that Humanity would bring great chaos to the World. They didn't get close. And that fear made them bullies. They chased down all humans who wandered of the Lion-Turtles.

And humans had always been the weaker kind. Younger, they were always behind their homologue, the spirits. They were spiritualy immature. They were frails. They were coward. They had no understanding of the World as a whole. But in that time, as fear guided their lives, nothing was taken for gratend. They respected the Lion Turtles. Wheiter it was from fear or understanding, humans respected the spirits.

Fear was both their motivation and their doom.

Even at the Dawn of Time, equality was impossible for the World was created unfair. Human to be the weaker kind forever. Too young to be as wise as the spirits. To fragile to rivalized.

Then came Wan, the first human to live in the Wild. His rôle was far geater then keeping Vaatu ffrom winning. He was the First Avatar, but he was also the first step to Balance. He was the first human to reach spiritual enhancement. He was the first human to live not in fear, but in faith.

The World Shifted.

But like all human, Wan died. However. he was reincarnated. To continue his mission. Not to only contain Vaatu, but to bring Balance between Spirits and Human. To show Human the next logical evolution.

And Time passed. And the World forgot about Wan. His past lives forgot their very roots. Forgot about the beginning of Time. They forgot everything and the World entered the Dark Age. Knowledges of this intricate Balance were lost.

...

_Years before the prologue_

Lady Kana sat in a meditating position. It had been hours. She stood still. As she dveled in her past lives, she uncovered many wisdoms. Some, she didn't agree on. Some, she saw as revelation. She meditated for hours every day. And every day, she met another Avatar from another time. She seeked answers and knowledges. She was by far the most spiritual Avatar yet.

At one point, she hit a wall. She could not go futrher in time. She wasn't allowed her first Life. She knew about Wan. She had read everything on the past avatars, even the most foolish legend or rumors. That is when she started to meditate every morning. So she could reconnect with him and find peace within herself. She started with few expectations as no one before her attempted her feat. She was about to go back so far in time, it seemed impossible.

She got back thousand of years before her time. She met very interesting Avatar. Some very old, some very young, assainate at the spring of their lives. It was no surprise that some Avatars lived a peaceful life while others knew only wars. Life was unfair and some had it easier than others.

The morning chill brought her back to herself. She couldn't feel her legs. She was thirsty and hungry.

She was upset. She was frustrated. What wasn't she doing to reach Wan. She kept seeing the same wall over and over with that seal on it. She couldn't passed by. She couldn't brake it. And since that time sha had been unable to move foward.

Her mentor passed by as she sighed. The man was an Airbender and he was her teacher. Well, he wasn't his teacher anymore since she had master the element, but he was still a good counselor and friend.

''What is it Lady Kana?'' said the mentor.

''Every time I try to past that wall, I'm repelled. Someone put that wall there. I keep trying to destroy it, but I can't. I tried to go around it, under it. Every attemp is worst than the previous.''

'' Maybe this wall is meant to stay there. Maybe it protects you from harm.''

''How could reconnecting to Wan be a bad thing master Shen?''

''I don't know Kana, I don't know. But one thing is for sure, the person who put it there must have been very powerful to tempered with the Avatar very spirit. ''

'' What do I do now master Shen?''

'' I can only hope you will find your answers. I have none to give you. I'm sorry.''

Master and student stood there, in silence, thinking about the conversation they just had. Both felt powerless in front of the challenge.

The only thing to be done was to move foward. She would go beyong the wall, but the Western Air Temple had offer everything it could, and now was the time to move on to somewhere else.

And with that, she was gone. Like the wind, she would find a way around the obstacle.

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><p><em>Many mysteries to solve. Who put the wall, how? What it Ren's Temple, what terrible secret does it hold for men to prevent the Avatar to enter it.<em>


	3. The Long War

**The Long War**

The Lady walked many miles to arrive at her destination. She was tired and hungry. The travel hadn't been easy. She was no air nomad and flying-bison were not freely given, even to the Avatar. She traveled by herself draging her own weight. She had learned yound to be independant. So walked across the world, taking shelter here and there where people were generous enough to let her in.

People from her era were generaly poor. They hadn't much and since the winter was coming, it was even more an accurate statement. They were slowly staking food in there homes, basements mainly. And food was rare. War ha done a number on them. Farming soils were rare and many were soiled with the blood of the Time.

Even if the war was said to help economy, this time, it hadn't. The Long War had destroyed almost everything. Benders against benders. The war wasn't win by any sides. They were both defeated by the Time. They lost all their men, all their ressources, and soon, both returned home, empty handed.

The Avatar, Lady Kana simply stated the facts for them, and they all stoped. Well she did had to raise her fist and fight her way into the heart of the battle were the generals of both sides were fighting to death. She had used strenght and Avatar powers to force them to stop.

They nearly just toss her aside their conflict, but she force their hands. She knew it had to stop. She couldn't let them escalate so quickly into forbiden form of bendings. They didn't seem to care weither it was forbiden or not. They only wanted to win. Win for what purpose, for whom. They had already forgotten and they were merly enjoyong the fight.

She obliged them to listen to her wisdom. To see what they had cause, the great suffering of the World's balance. Eyes wides open reflecting the destruction they had cause. And Lady Kana, charismatic as she was, had made her point clear, no more empty wars. Violence was never the answer. And Human in general lacked wisdom.

When the Long War ceased, Lady Kana realised how much men meant destruction, to everyone and everything around them. Men never knew peace.

It is at this point that Lady Kana started to dig in history books and lost sories. She seeked a time when Men were peaceful, but she never found. And despair found her. She lost faith in humankind and lost faith in her Role, duty, as the Avatar, Why salvage a world that wasn't not worth it. Humankind did not earn anything except perhaps Inexistence. Maybe she ought to erase them from the surface of the earth.

That is what the Avatar thruly believed. They were not meant to exist, not in the way they lived. All of them had long forgotten the spirits. None were respectfull of the world they lived in. It was just taken for granted, that men had always been there. But Lady Kana knew, within herslef, it was wrong. Human had not always been those mindless creatures with less than worthy vertues.

It is the Long War that had sent her on her inital quest : To find the Beginning of the Humankind

Maybe, she would find something worth saving. Her quest started in meditation and them followed a murkier path. After weeks of lonely travel, lost in her thoughts about Wan and the Origin of the Civilisation, she found Hope again. She had not find a way to overhrow the mental wall, but she found way to make men worthy again.

Maybe all men needed was to be rememebered. That it was first fear and pain they met in the knew Wolrd. They needed to fell opress again. Maybe then, they would remmeber something. They had to loose everything they had worked for in order to earn Salvation again. Years of easy living had made them lazy and stupid. But in fear, they would fing wisdom again. In pain, they would awaken.

She had to erase the past they tought was. She had to make them forget about the life they were living, a living lie, as it was. They had to see the truth again. And so they would.

Once they had found wisdom again, then, they would be worthy to be call Man.

_Destroy the present lies in hope of a better future. _


	4. The Raven

Her travels brought her to a small town in the middle of nowhere. It was charming yet creepy. At night, rumors said, that strange things happened. The spirits awoke and took what was their's.

They folks were more then happy to see the Avatar passed the wooden gates of the town. Maybe she could help and deal with the spirits. She was the great Bridge between the worlds after all.

She accepted, not because the citizens asked,but because she wanted to find the truth. She didn't care about the people and their poor relation with the local spirits. They were far from what she call worth it. But the spirit themselves were interesting and worth staying in that wierd village.

Some woman told her, that being the Avatar, she could stay at her home, that she was h9onored to have her as a guest. She accepted the offer and enter the woman's home. It wasn't exaclty poor, but it was close. Their were few furniture. Except the table and one bed, there was nothing else.

''Were will you sleep madam, if I stay here?'' said Lady Kana.

''On the floor Lady Kana.'' said her host in a natural tone. She was sincere.

The town didn't often receive important people. And Kana's presence was the most interting thing that had happen to this town in a century, that and the angry spirits.

She agreed to stay at her home if she was the one sleeping on the floor. She already had slept in more inconfrtable places before. A wooden floor was luxuary compare to what her travel had gotten her acustom at. The owner saw that the Avatar wasn't joking and oblige her will.

''I'm a bad host, I didn't even tell you my name. I'm Flora Lady Kana.''

''Please call me Kana. You are generous enough to have me under your roof, there is no need for title.''

It was unsettling.

''Yes Miss Kana.''

''Tell me, Flora, what happens here. I heard rumors. The men are scare. I can feel it. One asked me to investigate the angry spirits.''

''I don't know for sure what happens here. We close the blinds and barricate ourselve during the night. Some witness' said it was a giant Raven spirit that was stealing our goods. I never saw it, but I can tell you this. At night, went there is no wind, no sounds, that when it appears. And when the morning comes, there is always some precious object that goes missing.''

''I see.''

'' I don't know if the Raven is trying to scare us or help us. But its presence is terrifying.''

Both ladies felt silent. One was thinking about solutions while the other was focusing on not letting her fear show.

The conversation ended there. Laday Kana made her a promise. She would stay until she could bring some light.

It took a week or so for the Raven to first show up.

Like Flora said, it coming was announced. The nature itself was silent. Like it didn't want to take part of what was to come. It detached itself from the world. It didn't want to witness the show down that was to come.

Mother Nature was gone in the glimpse of an eye. Some Kana heard the follks close doors and window. Soon the town it slef felt silent, in fear. They feared out of miss understanding. And that again proved to Kana how humans were weak and control by their emotions. They were the weaker link of the World. It was because of the war between the spirits and the humans that the World was unbalanced.

Suddently, she heard a loud an terrifying cry. The Raven Spirit was around. He had came to their world, why and how. His presence wasn't coincidential. He couldn't be there only to torture the poor humans, could he?

Kana was about to discorver it.

Being a first and foremost a waterbender, she bended her favorite element to catch the Raven's attention. Her primary goal for now was to get him far from the small buildings. This way, it would not destroy anything. After which she would try to talk him some senses.

The way the giant bird went toward her main direction, it was clear that her tactic was working. Well almost.

At the last minute in lash a gust of wind. Make roofs fly. The small town wasn't build to resist a tornado.

The Raven sent yet another one of those gust toward Kana's direction. Before it could it the town again she bended the air, making go faraway from the houses.

She wasn't a very good figther herself. She was always better at philosophy and spirituality then fight. But right now, she had to be good. Even if she didn't like humans as much as her rôle asked of her, she still value life itself.

The raven flew high in the sky, and when it would come down, it was going to aim for Kana. And she knew it.

She took a earthbender stance. Large feet, steady as the rock and waited in her position. She wasn't the one that would move. The Raven was about to see the strenght of the Avatar.

The Raven dived for Kana. It wasn't going to miss it target. And as predicted, it didn't. But as Kana had anticipated it, she bended the earth around her. The Avatar state was activated. The raven went crashing in a tall and massive wall.

The Spirit was knocked down.

''Now, you stop and listen to me.''

The Raven disapeared in the Spirit world before Kana could make sense of what had happenned.

Since when did Spirit attacked the Avatar. Didnd't they respected him? Or was she again facing a dilemma on her rôle.

The solution was in front of her. She was about to chase the Spirit in the Spirit world. She would have answers. She waited the first light of the sun to go after him. As soon as she felt the fisrt rayof light on her dark skin, she went into meditation.

She was back at Flora's house. As the town awaken, the lively sounds started. The town was once again alive. Kids played, adults started their routines. It was the usual as if nothing had happenned last night.

The only proof that something strange had occured was the great big wall standing tall in the middle of nowhere. Cleary the Avatar would have to but the earth at it's place before leaving.

But Kana was way busy with more important matters. The Raven Spirit had taunted her. Teased her even. She meditated. Calmed herslef and push the boundaries between worlds to enter the Spirit realm.

She opened her eyes. The grass was greener, the colors more vivid. The sounds smoother. She was in the Spirit World. And as she suspected, if she truly wish to find something or someone, she just had to focus on it.

It's Raven that came to her. He was neither black nor white. He was in bewtween. And he was veiled by some dark shadows. Nonetheless, he was standing in front of her, as if he had waited for her to come to him. She was about to take a fighting stance when he talked.

''Did you know Ravens used to be white, Lady Kana.''

She stoped at once, and listen to the wisdom he was about to dive her.

''We were whiter than the pure light. We were the wise in which the world trusted. We were the councelor. The problem and the solution. We brought great dilemma and solved them at the same time.''

''We were Wisdom.''

''But one day, human came into life and it all changed. We used to live in the same world, Spirits and humans. But when The Black Sorrow came, we decieded to live appart.''

''One day, a human corrupted a Raven into telling him the Secrets of life. The Raven was charmed, fooled by the Human. It told him everything. And as it told everything, fooled by the charisma of the man, its feathers turn into black rivers of sorrow.''

''The Raven was banish from the Spirit World and thrown into the material world. Where he would wander for eternity. Looking for the very thing he lost, his Wisdom unfairly taken by man.''

''From that point on, Raven Spirits never visited the Humans again. They kept their Knowledges. That is why you will never see a white Raven in your living time. The only Raven that will dare speak to you, human – avatar or not – will be forever black.''

''I'm an heir to that shamefull legacy. Not black, not white, I seek, like you, a Balance between the Worlds, so I can re-enter the Wilds, my home.''

''The village you're in, stole from the spirits, in its past. They stole knowledge. And they were doom for it. Why do you think they are so afraid of us, spirits. They trespassed before and they did so again and again. They took what wasn't their's. So they must pay.''

''I steal man's wisdom every night. I seek the elders. And when I get to them, I make them forget everything they know. That knowledge, human stole before, is once more, ours. Our Lord make sure of it. Wan Shi Tong's Libraiy will once more be the Wisdom Jewel it was before.''

''This is rightful legacy _they_ _earned_ : Fear.''

''I give you this Wisdom, Avatar, in hope that you will not do the same mistake as did your past lives, before.''

''Remmeber, it was man who threw the first rock.''

And he vanished.


	5. Push and pull

It rang in her ears. It echoed in her head. It sunk in her heart. _"Remember, it was man who threw the first rock." _It hurt. It shredded all her years of studies, to ashes.

Was it just this once, that human started the fight. Or was the Raven Spirit referring to the whole situation. In her heart, she didn't want to know. She didn't want to know how deeply accurate she had always been, about human, spirit, and the World.

She was back in her World. She was still at Flora's place. She was sitting on the wooden floor next to a worried Flora. She looked anxiously as Kana awoke from her meditation state.

Lady Kana looked worried. She looked hurt. Flora didn't dare speak. The Avatar rose up and began to pick her stuff. She was about to go. What had happened? Flora would never know. The Avatar was gone like she came. One a sunny day, with no warnings. She left the town after lowering the wall she created last night. A last thank you to Flora and that was it.

Her next stop was Wan Shi Tong Library. She was going to find the Truth about Humanity and about Wan whether the Spirit was friendly or not. The Raven Spirit hadn't said his name. But surely, he was recognizable among his peers.

Since the beginning of her journey as the Avatar, she had only found despair. She had discovered how Wan had destroyed the balance between Raava and Vaatu. She had seen the Long War and what men were ready to do. And most recently, she had seen witness the repercussion of Human's Mistakes. Not only that, but she had seen the horror of the revenge of the Spirits. Stealing the knowledge and wisdom.

She had to acknowledge, it was brilliant. It was nearly harmless and other than the victim, had no causality. The spirit didn't steal the memories of cherish ones or a life time achievement, he just rendered those a little less wise. The loss was sometimes so subtle it was attributed to simple aging. Only the Raven knew the truth, and the Avatar.

The Librairy wasn't easy to access. It was in the middle of a dessert and rumors were told that it was deep under the sand. In his Golden Age, it was atop the Desert, and was seen from the very edge of it. But as Humans came and steal, the Lord started to keep more and more knowledge to himself. Wan Shi tong was said to be very peaky in the humans in let inside his home. Not many had successfully come out of the Library alive, and even less alive with knowledge.

It was said that one needed to be cunning and witty to enter the Domain of the Owl. But Kana didn't intend on fooling him. Her plan was straight-to-the-point kind of plan. She was going to enter and ask him what cause human and Spirit to be apart and to rift. His reactions and actions would be enough for Kana to go on. If he wanted to speak with that'd be even better than anticipated. And he wanted to show her a book or a scroll; it would be more than what she asked for.

All she sought was answers, whether it came with an angry grunt from Wan Shi Tong and a blow of his wings or an elaborate retelling. If he did threw an attack, it would tell her how not welcome were the Human. Again, she would have spirit's hatred, fear and revenge as a response.

She didn't care about how it got this way between the Owl and the Human. She knew already a good part of the story, if Wan Shi Tong added information and his side of the story; it would certainly be to worsen her idea of the Humans a bit more.

She reached the Desert easily as no one wanted to go in its direction, she simply went against the current. Like she waterbendded her way through the landscape. She felt the push and pull of the society and went against it to find the Library. She listened to the moon and did exactly the contrary. It was a poetic metaphor. As she drew nearer to her destination, she met fewer travelers and soon all she saw were locals who lived near the sand pit.

She met nomads at the edge of the Desert and asked for a guide into its heart. _Foolish girl. _They all thought. Even as the Avatar, the Desert didn't restrain its strength. It was a constant raging storm. It was treacherous. It was calm one hour and apocalyptical the next. The men feared its temper. Some said it had a spirit of its own.

They were scare that even the Avatar wouldn't make it out alive.

"Who said anything about get out of it. I want to see the Sunken Library with my own two eyes."

No one dared to accompany her into a certain death. As much as she despised it, she was right about one thing though, the fewer humans were on her path; the closer she was to her goal.

She waited for the evening to go. It was less dangerous and the sun wasn't going to kill. Using Earthbending to move around the Desert, she found the location she was looking for pretty easily. Well she thought. It was sunken after all. Her map led her to the very spot where it was in its Golden age.

Then as she was about to go back, disappointed, she thought she saw the tip of the building. As she got closer, she confirmed it. It was there.

At lasts a small victory for Lady Kana.

She was going inside even if all the travelers she met said to not do so. She wasn't reckless either, she knew she may have to fight, but she was ready. As soon as she would land on the floor, she would take her fighting position and wait to see if the Great Owl wanted her dead or alive.

_I seek knowledge to decide the fate of the World._

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><p><strong>R&amp;R.<strong>


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